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The Death of General Warren on Bunker Hill by John Trumbull
The Deadly Hand of “The Irish Lafayette”
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There are 34 muscles in the human hand. You can stretch them wide to claim something or clasp them tight to hold on. It depends on what your brain commands, but sometimes, it’s not up to you; the hand of fate cuts in and pushes you where you were never meant to be. In 1775, the English empire was reaching wide in two directions: to the east, England was trying to grasp more of India, where their East India Company had had a foothold since 1600; and to the west, it was trying to regain a tight hold on the American colonies, where rebel colonists were threatening to break free. Following 24
Discover CONCORD
| Spring 2022
BY JAIMEE LEIGH JOROFF the Boston tea party in December 1773, additional Loyalist forces were sent to Boston. Among them, stepping off a ship from Ireland, was 19-year-old Lieutenant Francis Rawdon, a battalion officer in one of the ten companies of His Majesty’s 5th Regiment of Foot. Born in 1754 with the proverbial silver spoon in hand, Rawdon was the eldest son and heir of the First Earl of Moira in County Down, Ireland, and the noble (and wealthy) English Lady Elizabeth Hastings. Throughout his lifetime, Rawdon would inherit and receive many titles and lands, but for now, Rawdon was tasked with guarding the port of Boston.
Nine months passed. Loyalist spies in Massachusetts suggested that weapons to supply a Continental Army were stockpiled in Concord. Near midnight on April 18, 1775, while Rawdon’s battalion remained in Boston, the 5th Regiment’s Light Infantry and Grenadier companies joined nearly 700 King’s troops and set out to find and destroy the stockpile. Colonist spies were also at work, messengers ready to report the direction the King’s men would travel. Two lanterns flickered to life in Boston’s Old North Church steeple signaling the Regulars would cross the Charles River and take the road through
